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New exhibit calculates the cosmos

Han Reichgelt helps his 4-year-old son Kai build an arch, on Saturday during the opening of the Nature's Numbers exhibit at the Georgia Southern University Museum.

Carl Elmore

What do you do with the arch you've just built at the Nature's Numbers exhibit in the Georgia Southern Museum? Four-year-old Kai Reichgelt tears it down as his father, Han Reichgelt, watches.

Carl Elmore

Nature's Numbers, a hands-on exhibit, opened Saturday at the Georgia Southern University Museum.

Carl Elmore

Four-year-old Kai Reichgelt makes faces at himself in a double mirror display, part of the Nature's Numbers exhibit that opened Saturday at the Georgia Southern Museum in Statesboro.

Logarithms.

Fractals.

Symmetry.

Lost you already? Let's try again.

Seashells.

Snowflakes.

A butterfly's wing.

How are these two lists related? Visitors found out firsthand on Saturday, the opening day of an interactive exhibit called "Nature's Numbers" at the Georgia Southern Museum.

The entire display is composed of 20 different puzzle stations that challenge children to look at math in a new way.

For example, logarithmic spirals are found in seashells. A snowflake is based on fractals-geometric shapes that repeatedly subdivide, each becoming a smaller copy of the whole.

The exhibit is divided into four sections: Designs in Nature, Mathematical Inquiry, Repeating Patterns and Shapes and Structures.

Téo Reichgelt, 7, learned about symmetry at the Repeating Patterns station by rotating a patterned disc mounted to an enlarged replica of a butterfly's wing. Nearby, a large picture of a green snake noted that its markings also are symmetrical, as are people's bodies and faces.

Téo tested this concept in a nearby mirror with his 4-year-old brother, Kai.

Their father, Han, said he takes the boys to the museum at least once a month "to see what's on." Téo is more language-oriented. Kai is "more numeric."

"He's going to be an engineer. Or a demolition expert," Han said of his younger son.

The traveling exhibit is from the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia and takes up about 800 square feet of space. It will remain in the museum until Dec. 31. Admission is free.

Brent Tharp, director of the museum, said he was intrigued by the display's interdisciplinary nature.

"Most of us only think of math in the classroom. But this is a great opportunity for kids to understand that math is involved intimately in everything around us," he said. "Then they can go on to our Botanical Garden to continue their investigation."

Annette Bellina of Glennville doesn't have fond memories of her days in a math class, so she was pleased to see the subject presented in a fun way to granddaughter Taylor Ann Pearson, 5. The two used a Spirograph-like device to draw repeating patterns. They tested gravity by building a shelf of wooden blocks. And they attempted a 3-D puzzle.

"I'm like the kids," Bellina said. "I have to put my fingers in everything."

IF YOU GO

What: "Nature's Numbers"

When: 9-5 p.m. Monday-Friday; 2-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Where: Georgia Southern Museum, inside the Rosenwald Building on the GSU campus in Statesboro

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP BUTLER, Okinawa, Japan — Marine Corps Captain James E. Frederick, who ejected from a Marine F/A-18 on Dec. 7, was pronounced dead after his body was found during search and rescue operations.